UPT20 2023: Aditya Sharma shines in Noida Super Kings' triumph over Gorakhpur Lions

Kanpur, September 1, 2023: The Noida Super Kings completed their second consecutive victory of their campaign in the first edition of UPT20, trouncing the Gorakhpur Lions by 43 runs at the Green Park Stadium. 

Despite a precarious start, the Noida Super Kings set a formidable target of 183 for the Gorakhpur Lions with the help of key contributions from their lower order through Aditya Sharma (70*), Prashanth Veer (40) and Samarth Singh (45). Noida doubled down on their first innings’ performance with a clinical effort with the ball, Nitish Rana (2/8) and Naman Tiwari (2/34) picked up two wickets each as the Gorakhpur Lions crumbled under the pressure of a massive target on a tricky surface. 

Electing to bat first, the Noida Super Kings powerplay was marred by the bowling of Dhruv Pratap Singh. He ran through the top order with a swinging ball, picking up the wickets of Almas Shaukat, Shantanu and the crucial Nitish Rana in quick succession.

On the other end, Noida’s opener Samarth Singh (45) looked unnerved, ensuring Noida Super Kings scored briskly despite the loss of wickets. They finished the powerplay at 44/3. Aditya Sharma (70*) and Samarth Singh came together to post a 38-run partnership that was halted when Samarth Singh fell to Ankit Chaudhary in the 12th over, leaving Noida in trouble at 82/4.  

However, the Noida Super Kings finished well as Aditya Sharma powered through to an essential half century in 35 balls while Prashant Veer (40) joined him to give the innings a much-needed boost. The final five overs of the innings were immensely fruitful for the Noida Super Kings as they scored 64 runs with Aditya Sharma remaining unbeaten at 70 runs off 43 balls while Prashant Veer fell to Vijay Kumar in the final over. The Noida Super Kings finished their quota of 20 overs at 182/5. Dhruv Pratap Singh was the pick of the Gorakhpur bowling attack with exceptional figures of 3/25. 

The Gorakhpur Lions had a disastrous start to their innings. The runs were hard to come by for openers Abhishek Goswami (17) and Harshit Sethi (3).  Bhuvneshwar Kumar delivered two economical overs where he conceded just 7 runs and followed it up with a bullet like direct hit from mid-off, running out Harshit in the fourth over.  At the end of powerplay, Gorakhpur was struggling at 22/1.

Captain Abhishek Goswami was dismissed soon after, the only top order batsman to reach double figures, he was cleaned up by Prashant Veer. The wickets continued to tumble as Kartikaaya Singh (6) and Sameer Chaudhary (2) fell in consecutive over, picked up by Nitish Rana and Saurabh Kumar respectively. 

Siddharth Yadav (5) then went on to become Nitish Rana’s second victim of the night leaving Gorakhpur Lions dwindling at 36/5 in 10 overs. Yashovardhan Singh (43) and Shivam Sharma (57*). The duo put on 78 runs in eight overs before Naman Tiwari picked up Yashovardhan Singh followed by Sunil Kumar (0) in consecutive deliveries during the 18th over. Shivam Singh brought up his half century in the last over of the innings, but the Lions were short, losing the game by 43 runs. 

Brief Scores  

Noida Super Kings won by 43 runs

Noida Super Kings: 182/5 in 20 overs (Aditya Sharma – 70* runs off 43 balls, Samarth Singh – 45 runs off 35 balls, Prashant Veer – 40 runs off 24 balls, Dhruv Pratap Singh – 3/25, Ankit Chaudhary – 1/30, Vijay Kumar – 1/35)

Gorakhpur Lions: 139/7 in 20 overs (Shivam Sharma – 57* runs off 31 balls, Yashovardhan Singh – 43 runs off 32 balls, Abhisek Goswami – 17 runs off 18 balls, Nitish Rana – 2/8, Naman Tiwari – 2/34, Saurabh Kumar 1/12)